Tease
by Muldoon22
Summary: A to and fro between Steve and Natasha, in which they playfully make the other jealous.
1. Chapter 1

She loved Steve. With all her heart. But sometimes, she liked to test him. She remembered back to a few months after they began dating. He was loyal and kind, but she wanted to see his protective side, see how hard and long he would fight for her.

Such is the case when the Avengers attended a celebratory party in their honour. He unintentionally paid little attention to her for awhile, talking with army generals and politicians. She sat at the bar, sipping away at a martini when a man approached her.

"That dress really makes your ass nice and round." he said, sitting down. A player. Great, she thought to herself.

"What is a scorching hot beauty as yourself doing being alone?"

"I like being alone." she replied. She looked out of the corner of her eye to Steve, who was still oblivious.

"Well, hopefully by the end of tonight, Ill break that and me and you can do some...partner activities."

She chuckled. She had found her opportunity to tease Steve a little. "Describe to me a little more what these "activities" would be." She glanced again and was happy to see Steve do a double take towards her. The player wriggled his eyebrows and leaned over to whisper in her ear, obstructing her view of Steve.

"I'd make you remember my name until the day you died. he said. She laughed on the inside. That was pretty damn corny. He moved his head, she smirked when she saw Steve standing behind them.

"Evening." he said, the man's eyes going wide.

"Holy hell, you're Captain America!"

"Indeed I am. Do you mind if I take my wife out to the dance floor?"

The man began to stammer. "Yo-you-your wife?" he looked at Natasha, who had a cheeky grin on her face. The man fled. Steve took his seat and folded his hands. "Mind telling me why that guy was chatting you up?"

"He's a player. Just looking for a one night stand."

"Seemed you were rather enjoying it."

"Because I was using him as a test subject."

"For what?"

"See how jealous Steve Rogers can get. By the looks of it, to the point of mentioning a wedding I don't remember attending."

He smirked. "Men tend to run faster when you say wife rather than girlfriend."

She laughed.

"So basically you were just trying to wind me up?"

"Right on the money."

He tsked and laughed. "You little vixen." he put a hand on her cheek and kissed her. She blushed ferociously.

"Come on, let's dance." he said, pulling her to her feet.


	2. Chapter 2

Tony decided it was time for a guy's night. Clint and Thor were down, but had to virtually drag Bruce and Steve along.

"This club is amazing!" Clint yelled, unable to almost hear himself.

"This club is loud!" Steve replied.

"Lighten up, Rogers." Tony said. "Talk with some women, enjoy yourself. Hell, maybe you might pick some of them up."

"But I'm dating-" he stopped himself and smiled to himself with a mischievous grin. "You know, I might just do that." and he sauntered into the crowds.

* * *

He found himself seated, with almost 20 different women surrounding him, all talking to him.

"Hey ladies, do you mind if I take a picture with you?" they all agreed and he pulled out his personal usage phone and snapped a pic. He looked at it and saw a good 7 girls got into the shot. He quickly pressed send and put the phone away.

"Now I wait."

* * *

The girls were all in the living room, passing time. Jane and Betty were playing checkers, with Darcy acting as moderator. Pepper was on her laptop, receiving constant picture updates from Tony. "Clint threw up." she said.

"He best brush his teeth before I kiss him tonight." Darcy said.

Natasha busied herself with some knitting. Soon she felt her phone buzz. A message from Steve.

_Jealous?_ said the message. She clicke the attachment and the picture popped up. She knew he was teasing her because of last week, but it was not enough for the phone to not be crushed in her hand.

"So I'm going to go rent a few chick flicks and pick up Steve. Anyone want anything?"

"Some Skittles?" Jane asked. "Also, why are you picking up Steve?"

"Let's say I miss him." she said, and was gone seconds later.

* * *

Steve casually talked with the women, glancing towards the door with a sort of excitement. Finally, he spotted a short haired redhead walk in, looking all over the place until their eyes met. She marched over, intense determination in her gaze. She got to him and pulled him out of his seat. She glared at the women giving her funny looks.

"Mine." she said and led Steve out of the club.

Outside, he chuckled a little. "I guess you could say we're even."

Natasha looked at him, hurt. His laugh quickly stopped.

"Come on, Nat. You know I was only teasing."

She kept her hurt expression. He went over to her and pulled her in his arms.

"You know you're the only girl for me. I promise you: no more."

She whispered in his ear. "What? And give up when the game's only just started?"

He looked at her and saw a smile on her face. She fooled him.

"You really are a little firecracker."

"Come on." she said, walking to the driver's side door. "I told the girls I'd rent some chick flicks. I also need to pick up a new phone."

"Ok. As long as one of those films is _August Rush_. I really liked that one."

She laughed. "Tony and Clint would have a field day if they knew you liked chick flicks." she said as she started up the car and drove off into the night.


	3. Chapter 3

The group elected to spend the day in Central Park, with Steve and Natasha branching off on their own walk. They walked for awhile before Steve dismissed himself to use the bathroom. Natasha sat down on a park bench and waited for him.

A man with swag sauntered over to her. "Yo gurl, you be my honey?"

She laughed for a moment before noticing Steve walking back over and smiling to herself. "Well, will I?"

The man sat down and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Hell yea."

Natasha barely kept it together as Steve approached. As he did, he spotted them, and the way his face fell alarmed her.

"Nat? What are you doing?" he asked.

"This gurl be my honey. We gonna have a good time, if you no what I mean."

Steve turned to her, a powerfully sad look on his face. "I thought you would have loved me enough to tell me we were breaking up. I thought wrong, I guess." and he walked away sadly. She watched after him for a moment before tossing the mans arm off her.

"Get the hell off me." she snarled, and ran after Steve. She got up to him as he was wiping his eyes with his hands.

"Steve! Steve, you know it's the game right? You honestly thought I'd date that clown?"

He turned to her, a smile on his face. "Not at all. Though I'm fairly certain we're still tied."

She relaxed and lightly punched him on the shoulder. "Maybe it's a deadlock. Perhaps we should end it now."

"Now? When the fun's just begun? I didn't take you as one to give up."

"Oh, it's on, Rogers." she said, linking onto his arm. They walked towards their friends, Steve quickly buying a bouquet of roses for her.

"For being able to hold a straight face around that guy." she brought them right up to her face to hide the smile, though Steve could see it dancing in her eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

Tony dragged them all to a new dance club, insisting on only casual clothing. Steve and Natasha showed up in their leather jackets, while Tony sauntered in wearing a three piece suit. Natasha rolled her eyes and went to use the bathroom. Steve decided to explore the club. Not a minute after wandering onto the dance floor, a woman took his hand and pulled him in furthur.

"Dance with me." she said, grooving to the music. Steve looked dumbfounded, one because he didn't know how to dance. Two because he didn't know this girl. Three, if Natasha saw this, she'd- well, well, well, he thought to himself. An opportunity arose to take the lead in their little game.

"Hands on my hips!" the girl instructed. Steve complied. He looked up at the stairs to the bar to see Natasha standing there, bobbing her head to the beat and looking around. Her head stopped when she saw Steve. He winked at her and he swore he saw fire in her eyes. Steve blinked and when he opened his eyes, she was gone. He furrowed his brow a bit as the girl faced him.

"You're a pretty good dancer." she said. Soon, two men in suits approached them.

"Kelly Foster?"

The girl, Kelly, turned to them. "That's me. What's wrong?"

"You're under arrest for suspicion of conspiracy. You're coming with us." the other man clasped his hands on hers and out them behind her back, escorting her away. The other nodded to Steve and left. A second later, Natasha walked to him.

"Was that you?" Steve asked.

"Maybe." she replied playfully.

"That girl could get in serious trouble."

"Nah. Told them to scare her a little. This isn't the first time people have tried to touch my things."

Steve smiled. "All right then, my little firecracker. Care to dance?"

"Sure. Just try to keep up." she said, taking his hand and pulling him into the dancers.

A/N Internet high five to whoever catches the reference in this chapter (hint, it's the name of a character one of the actors who play Steve or Natasha played.) As always, prompts are accepted.


	5. Chapter 5

Natasha knew that Steve knew she was only joking with him, and him with her, but sometimes she felt it still hurt him. Like when she was goofing around in SHIELD.

She had been walking through the Triskelion in New York. As a junior agent walked pass, she spotted Steve sitting in the lobby. Smiling to herself, she pushed the agent up o the wall.

"How old are you?" she asked.

"25." he replied.

"Single?" she asked, looking at Steve, who was looking at her.

"No."

"Just go with it." and with that she kissed him. Steve's expression didn't change, but it really hurt him. He got up and left. When Natasha broke off and looked his way, she panicked when she saw him gone. She ran to the reception desk.

"Where did Captain Rogers go?" she practically demanded.

"Captain Rogers left on a two week mission in Mongolia. No contact whatsoever."

Natasha slammed the desk and left.

* * *

Waiting for him to return during those two weeks nearly killed her. She trained, walked, slept. But during the nights she'd think back to that stupid tease and how it drove Steve to leave. She cried sometimes. How would she make it up to him?

While walking through the halls of the Helicarrier, she froze when she saw Steve, clad in his Captain America outfit minus the mask, talking with Agent Sitwell. She marched in and ordered Sitwell out. When he did, she drew the blinds and jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his back.

"I'm so sorry. I went too far. Are you mad at me?"

Steve rubbed her back. "No, I just..hoped kissing was only exclusive to me."

"Done. I just cannot bear another fortnight without you."

"Alright. You want to go home?" he felt her head nod against his. He smiled and carried her out.


	6. Chapter 6

She knew Steve would be plotting his revenge right now, to which she waited for in anticipation, in order to see his play, and dreading it. She had kissed another man her last turn and was hoping Steve wouldn't do something similar.

Steve made his move two weeks later. Steve was assigned to go undercover as a recently married man with his new bride. Natasha prepped herself to be selected by Steve to go with him. But she got a shock when she went to talk with Fury.

"Agent, if you're looking for Captain Rogers, he already departed. Her eyebows sprung up with surprise.

"With who?" she asked.

"Agent Hill."

Her face went solemn. She knew what he was doing.

"Thank you." she said, and left.

* * *

She learned the mission was in Las Vegas and was on the next plane there 5 minutes later. Upon landing she immediately looked up and down the Las Vegas strip. She found them playing craps at Caesar's Palace. Steve spotted her through the corner of his eye and smirked. He whispered something to Hill, who's appearance differed from her usual one. She wore an elegant blue dress and let her hair fall loose and long. She smiled at whatever he said and both left. Natasha followed and watched them enter the elevator. She quickly ran in front once the doors shut and listened carefully for it to stop. 4th floor, she noted and ran for the stairs. She made it just as soon as they entered their hotel room. She walked down the hall and froze when she got to their door. It had a Do Not Disturb sign on it.

Oh god, no she thought and began banging on the door. Steve opened the door and smiled.

"It's about time you showed up." he turned to look inside. "She's here now, Maria. Thank you again for playing along."

Maria came into view. "Of course Captain." she said, and exited. Natasha looked at him confused.

"4-2 in my books." he said.

"What? No way." she said, realizing this was his tease.

"Your last one backfired a bit. Anyway, are you hungry?" he opened the door wider to reveal a table had been set up, ready for dinner. Natasha smiled at him.

"My next one will knock your socks off." she said, kissing him and walking into the room, Steve shutting it behind them.


	7. Chapter 7

Steve got her good. Which meant that her next tease had to be big. But what could top being tricked like she was?

She told him about her former boyfriends from SHIELD, who included an Agent Jack Rollins. So when she saw Jack and Steve in the same room, her idea came to play. Have a casual conversation with her ex, but act as if they're getting back together. Steve, however, had a knack for being able to really act being wounded. So she would have to try and tell the difference between real and fake.

She pulled Jack to the side and began talking to him. We made sure her body language suggested flirtation, like a seductive grin and twirling her hair with her finger. She noticed Steve saw. The tease was in play.

* * *

Steve saw Natasha talking to her ex Jack. He saw them talking to one another before, but this time felt different. Was she- was she _flirting _with him? He realized it was her tease, but he wanted to keep his lead. There was something he had been saving for a later time, but it felt the time to activate it.

He got up and walked over to them. Natasha smirked at him. He stopped when he was right near them.

"Natasha Romanoff. I have something to say to you."

"And what is that, Steve Rogers?"

"After the battle of the city, after coming out of the ice, I felt lost. Alone. No one was there for me. Then, one night you appeared in my apartment, hurt, injured. I tended to you and we spent that night getting to know one another. Three weeks later, we had our first date. One week ago, we had our five month anniversary. I was wanting to do this then, but I got sidetracked. So now, I think is as good a time as any."

He bent down on one knee. Her smile dropped into shock. What was he doing?

He pulled out a little box and her question was answered. He opened it and held it out to her.

"Natasha Alianovna Romanoff, will you marry me?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed, dropping down to her knees and hugged him, tears of joy streaming down her face. He faced him and he slid the ring onto her finger, resulting in thunderous applause from the room.

"I think I won." Steve said, smiling. Natasha smiled as well.

"Oh most definitely. Congratulations, Rogers."

"Thank you, Romanoff."

"Hey, that Rogers to you, pal!"

He smiled and they kissed.

_fin_


End file.
